1MDB: All eyes on Najib’s buddy Peter Sondakh
Kadir Jasin says Sondakh may be another ‘white knight’ hoping to cash in on Sg Besi land
(Free Malaysia Today) – Indonesian businessman Peter Sondakh, a buddy and adviser of Najib Razak, has been highlighted as yet another “white knight” among many with eyes on grabbing slices of prize land owned by scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
Several other private companies and government-linked organisations are believed to be trying to get in on 1MDB’s Sungai Besi land holdings, cheaply bought from the federal government.
The former chief editor of the New Straits Times group, A Kadir Jasin, named Sondakh, the armed forces pension fund Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera and property company Malton Bhd owned by billionaire Desmond Lim Siew Choon as those on the list.
Kadir recalled that LTAT and Maltan had issued a media statement in 2010 that the two outfits would set up a consortium with 1MDB.
Sondakh’s possible involvement comes in the wake of purchases by Mulia Group of Indonesia and Lend Lease of Australia in the proposed Tun Razak Exchange financial district to be built on the Sg Besi land, formerly an air force base.
The anticipated involvement by Sondakh in 1MDB follows a foray by Felda Global Ventures Bhd in taking a 37% stake in Sondakh’s plantation giant PT Eagle High Plantation.
Kadir said the Sondakh factor ties in with 1MDB’s current pre-occupation with shifting assets, loans and responsibilities and justifying revaluations to meet accounting standards and to show the Companies Commission that no wrong-doing has taken place in the company.
“The public perception is that 1MDB was a “skim cepat kaya” (get-rich-quick scheme) based on getting cheap government assets and loading them on local and foreign buyers, at exorbitant prices.”
“Why do we need such government companies? A Malay developer who has done the same thing complained that a government company – 1MDB – was getting cheap land, breaking them up, revaluing them, and selling them off for quick and high gains.”
